


Long Live the Queen

by SoongTypeDisaster



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25974484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoongTypeDisaster/pseuds/SoongTypeDisaster
Summary: After a great war destroys every major figure in the Winter Court, Lea reflects upon what has passed.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Long Live the Queen

_Oh, by the darkness in these halls, I must have loved you after all._

The battles were over. So many slain. She had spent the last of it with her Queen’s head in her lap, waiting for the light to fade, telling her over and over they had won. That it had not been in vain.

The gates were sealed once more, perhaps for good this time. But at what cost? The Knight, The Queen, the Lady, all lay dead. Perhaps at one time Lea had wanted to be queen. But not like this. Never like this. But she had been the nearest vessel of Winter. Not a mortal, as it should have been, but perhaps the mantle knew she alone had the knowledge that was needed. Or perhaps it had been Mother Winter’s hand that had tipped the scales in her favor. She knew not.

“I should have been your equal,” she whispered to the dark and empty halls. How had Mab made them shine so brightly? Soul-sister, friend, hated and loved, loved but hated, for all that time… she had never asked how to maintain it all.

She had collected little Maggie in the early hours, had delivered the news to Molly’s parents. There had been a fight. Her first test. She had forced her emotions to frost over, forced herself into the utilitarian chill that was necessary. Maggie was young. Too young. But the Leanansidhe, now Lea Queen of Winter, would have no other. She was Harry’s. Dear Harry’s. None other would suit so well.

The temple dog still gave her reproachful stares, but he knew as well as she that Winter’s purpose must go on. The struggle was eternal. His condition had been that he come along. There was no reason to refuse him.

But now, business had quieted, and all that was left was for her to pace about the icy halls, lost in thought. She had to be cold. She had to push her grief aside. And yet the hot tears still spilled. Her Queen, her Lady, her godson… gone. All gone. She had loved them all, in her way. Oh yes, even Mab. Partner and rival eternal.

Lea stared down at her hands. Hands that had been powerless to stop the deaths of those that mattered. Powerless to prevent the Queen from falling.

“I am not Mab,” she whispered to the frozen wall.

And a voice that was wholly inhuman answered. “Indeed you are not. But that should not stop you.” The Malk’s eyes appeared first, gleaming in the dim light, then the gray body came slinking around the corner. “It is a spell,” the beast said simply. And, when Lea did not answer, “for the lights. Though I must say I prefer the dark.”

Lea closed her eyes. “Dark. Light. What does it matter now? Even if the lights were bright and beautiful, these halls would still be dark.”

_Mab, Mab, oh Mab… you left too soon. This world is not yet done with you._

Thrice she called the name. Thrice she was answered with silence. No Mab to summon. No Mab to anger.

No Mab to turn to, and say she was sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted on Tumblr back in 2015 as something of an angst gift for a friend and RP partner. (I have backdated the publication date to reflect when it was originally written.)


End file.
